State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, People's Republic of China.
PLoS One. 2012;7(6):e39058. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039058. Epub 2012 Jun 18.
Balancing forest harvesting and restoration is critical for forest ecosystem management. In this study, we used LANDIS, a spatially explicit forest landscape model, to evaluate the effects of 21 alternative forest management initiatives which were drafted for forests in the upstream region of the Hun River in northeastern China. These management initiatives included a wide range of planting and harvest intensities for Pinus koraiensis, the historically dominant tree species in the region. Multivariate analysis of variance, Shannon's Diversity Index, and planting efficiency (which indicates how many cells of the target species at the final year benefit from per-cell of the planting trees) estimates were used as indicators to analyze the effects of planting and harvesting regimes on forests in the region. The results showed that the following: (1) Increased planting intensity, although augmenting the coverage of P. koraiensis, was accompanied by decreases in planting efficiency and forest diversity. (2) While selective harvesting could increase forest diversity, the abrupt increase of early succession species accompanying this method merits attention. (3) Stimulating rapid forest succession may not be a good management strategy, since the climax species would crowd out other species which are likely more adapted to future climatic conditions in the long run. In light of the above, we suggest a combination of 30% planting intensity with selective harvesting of 50% and 70% of primary and secondary timber species, respectively, as the most effective management regime in this area. In the long run this would accelerate the ultimate dominance of P. koraiensis in the forest via a more effective rate of planting, while maintaining a higher degree of forest diversity. These results are particularly useful for forest managers constrained by limited financial and labor resources who must deal with conflicts between forest harvesting and restoration.
权衡森林采伐和恢复对于森林生态系统管理至关重要。本研究使用 LANDIS （一种空间明确的森林景观模型）来评估 21 种替代森林管理措施的影响，这些措施是为中国东北地区浑河流域上游的森林制定的。这些管理措施包括对该地区历史上占主导地位的树种红松（Pinus koraiensis）进行广泛的种植和采伐强度。多变量方差分析、香农多样性指数和种植效率（表示目标物种在最后一年每棵种植树的多少个细胞受益）估计值被用作分析种植和采伐制度对该地区森林的影响的指标。结果表明：（1）尽管增加种植强度会增加红松的覆盖面积，但会降低种植效率和森林多样性。（2）选择性采伐虽然可以提高森林多样性，但这种方法伴随着早期演替物种的突然增加，值得关注。（3）刺激快速森林演替可能不是一个好的管理策略，因为演替顶极物种最终会排挤其他物种，而这些物种从长远来看可能更适应未来的气候条件。基于以上结果，我们建议采用 30%的种植强度，分别选择性采伐初级和次级木材物种的 50%和 70%，作为该地区最有效的管理方案。从长远来看，这将通过更高的种植效率加速红松在森林中的最终主导地位，同时保持更高程度的森林多样性。这些结果对于受到有限资金和劳动力资源限制的森林管理者来说特别有用，他们必须在森林采伐和恢复之间的冲突中做出决策。
